FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Zack Deutsch-Gross, TransForm (415) 637-0101 Zackdg@transformca.org
Mary Lim, Genesis, (510) 822-3404 marylimlampe@gmail.com
Bay Area –Voices for Public Transportation (VPT), a regional coalition of 48 community groups, transit advocates, unions, and policy organizations, is dismayed by the news that Senate Bill 1031 will not move forward in 2024.
“Our mission is to create access to opportunities for people who depend on public transit,” says Mary Lim, Executive Director of Genesis, a Bay Area organizing group and part of the VPT, “We were hopeful, through SB 1031, that we could engage voters to fight for low-income riders, for climate change, and for a public transit system that would alleviate traffic.”
VPT leaders have met with elected officials and transit directors, for several years as part of their campaign to ensure that the regional funding could expand service and the revenue was raised through progressive sources so that economic burdens would not land on the backs of low-income people.
Transit riders, many of whom are low-income, disabled, youth, or seniors, have been telling us their stories, highlighting how a new regional funding measure is essential to their quality of life.
"I am worried and angry,” says Sara Greenwald, a San Francisco resident and voter, “I am a transit rider. We all have friends and family who are aging into being transit-dependent. It will be a hard transition if the transit service isn’t there for them.”
“This is a setback but not the end for a regional transportation funding measure,” says Zack Deutsch-Gross, Policy Director for Transform. “Voices for Public Transportation leadership is committed to securing additional funding for transit operations to prevent the fiscal cliff and achieve our transit vision.”
VPT will continue to work with MTC, transit agencies, and the state legislature to create a region where residents of all abilities, identities, and incomes can enjoy abundant, accessible transportation options that reliably, affordably, and conveniently get them where they need to go.
Voices for Public Transportation was founded in 2018 to advance a game-changing regional transportation measure to invest in our transit system so that all Bay Area residents can get around affordably and easily while protecting the climate.